Esther at London Handel Festival © Sisi Burn |
The London Handel Festival © Nick Boston |
Reflections on classical music, recordings and performances
Esther at London Handel Festival © Sisi Burn |
The London Handel Festival © Nick Boston |
The Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra’s Music Director, Joanna MacGregor took back the baton following Sian Edwards’ visit last month for their concert marking International Women’s Day, Mighty River: Celebrating Women. And this was another great example of imaginative and brave programming, with music most if not all unfamiliar to their audience, who gave enthusiastic responses throughout.
Meredith Monk © Julieta Cervantes |
Eleanor Alberga |
Errollyn Wallen © Azzurra Primavera |
Ayanna Witter-Johnson |
Ayanna Witter-Johnson © Nick Boston |
Sian Edwards and the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra © Nick Boston |
Sian Edwards, Joanna McGregor & the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra © Nick Boston |
Stravinsky began and ended the evening. His striking and substantial theatre piece, The Soldier’s Tale formed the second half of tonight’s concert. But proceedings opened with something altogether more playful, his brief Ebony Concerto, written for Woody Herman and his band. As Sian Edwards pointed out in one of her brief informative chats with Joanna MacGregor during stage resets, the works on tonight’s programme are somewhat rarities on the concert platform, mainly due to their unusual scorings, mostly for wind and brass. The clarinet features most in the final of the Concerto’s three short movements, and Fiona Cross’ virtuosity and ease with the idiom here (as throughout the whole concert programme) was impressive. The mournful central movement had a suitably bluesy feel, although the saxophones were a little jagged in places, although the virtuosic perpetual motion set up by a saxophone in the finale was smoothly secure, and the ringing final chords set up an appropriately jazzy feel for the evening.
Milhaud first heard American jazz in London, but soon after headed off to New York to explore jazz music in Harlem, and then emersed himself in the jazz bars of Paris, embracing what he referred to as the ‘jazz idiom’ in his compositions. La Création du monde, a short ballet work written for the Ballet Suédois in Paris, is a case in point. Written for solo strings (although no viola – this part being replaced by the alto saxophone) and woodwind, brass and percussion, it is a gloriously atmospheric piece, with an African creation myth as its scenario. The original ballet wasn’t a huge success, but the music stands alone as an inventive concert piece. The BPO players relished the opportunity for ample solo spotlights with the complex textures, although some appeared more at home in that ‘jazz idiom’ than others. A few tutti moments felt a little over counted, with some rhythms rocking as players interpreted the degree of swing differently, the percussion in particular pushing ahead once or twice. I expect all are still getting used to the newly, beautifully refurbished Corn Exchange’s acoustic, with some balance issues needing to be ironed out, such as cello and percussion significantly louder in the mix, as opposed to rather muffled flutes at the back of the stage. However, Edwards steered them all safely through, and the central joyful riot of creation and desire came across well, as well as the springtime return to calm, with slinky horn and oboe and buzzing flutes and muted trumpets to finish.
Weill’s Kleine Dreigrochenmusik takes us from the Paris jazz bars to Berlin’s cabaret scene, bringing some of the music from his opera with Bertolt Brecht to the concert hall. Set in Victorian London, the opera cast a harsh satirical eye on Weimar Germany of the 1920s, with its array of antiheros, led by Mack the Knife, and was a huge success at home, as well as spreading around Europe and to the USA. The Suite includes ‘hits’ such as the Ballad of Mack the Knife, and Polly’s Song, as well as the sensual Tango-Ballade and the dark Kanonen-Song, and is scored for wind, brass, percussion and piano, with banjo and guitar. The BPO players were strongest in the march-like sections, with strong rhythmic drive provided by Joanna MacGregor on the piano, although the darker sections could have taken more force from all to accentuate the dark satirical mood. Edwards had a challenge to bridge the distance on stage between the piano and percussion at either side, and the final accelerando into the chorale was in danger of coming loose, but enthusiastic energy carried things along, with some strong moments from the swirling clarinet and sultry saxophone, and a particularly chilling chorale over the tolling bells to finish.
Alistair McGowan, Max Keeble, Jo Castleton,
Claire Guntrip, Sian Edwards & the BPO
And so to Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale. This is a curious piece, part theatre, part chamber work, with even some dance thrown into the mix, and it feels somewhat of its time. That said, the music is full of vivid colour, and the darkly comedic tale of a soldier being duped by the devil is entertaining and succinctly told with humour in the libretto by Stravinsky’s friend C F Ramuz (here translated from the original French). There are three readers, with the Devil, in a variety of guises, played here by Alistair McGowan, with understated humour and an impressive array of accents. The Narrator, who drives the story along as well as providing snappy interactions with the cast to liven things up was delivered with commanding ease by Jo Castleton, and the bumbling soldier was charmingly played by Max Keeble. Richard Williams’ direction was light and unfussy, with simple staging elements not getting in the way of the musical performance, yet using the space on stage effectively. Dancer Claire Guntrip brought elegance to the non-speaking role of Princess, and the sequence of persuading and teaching the initially clumsy soldier to dance worked well with the music’s sequence of Tango, Waltz and Ragtime dances. As the soldier’s fiddle is central to the tale, there is lots for the first violin to do here, and Ruth Rogers’ devilish dances had real spark and flourish. The Royal March heralding the Princess’ entrance and the final Triumphant March of the Devil had great energy and solid ensemble from the full band, perhaps the tightest formation of players of the evening. Ultimately, a curio of the repertoire not destined for frequent performance, but given a persuasive performance here tonight by all.
Once again, Joanna MacGregor and friends have demonstrated a real creative approach to bringing varied programmes to BPO audiences, and it was great to see the new Corn Exchange full for such an eclectic mix of rarely performed works.
The Pavel Haas Quartet © The Wigmore Hall Trust, 2024 |
Veronika Jarůšková (violin)
Marek Zwiebel (violin)
Šimon Truszka (viola)
Peter Jarůšek (cello)
7.30pm, Monday 12 February 2024
Wigmore Hall, London
★★★★
Bohuslav Martinů (1890-1959): String Quartet No. 3
Vitězslava Kaprálová (1915-1940): String Quartet No. 1, Op. 8
Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904): String Quartet in C major, Op. 61
The Pavel Haas Quartet © The Wigmore Hall Trust, 2024 |
Read my full review on Bachtrack here.
Lotte Betts-Dean © Ben Ealovega |
Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra
Geoffrey Paterson (Conductor)
Joanna MacGregor (Music Director)
7.30pm, Saturday 27 January 2024
Dome Concert Hall, Brighton
★★★★
Györgi Ligeti (1923-2006): Atmosphères
Luciano Berio (1925-2003): Folk Songs
Richard Wagner (1813-1883): The Ring: An Orchestral Adventure
arranged by Henk de Vlieger (b.1953)
Geoffrey Paterson |
In the understandably short first half, the BPO gave us two challenging and highly contrasting twentieth century works, and there was no sense of these being there purely as filler. Ligeti’s Atmosphères may be known to some from its appearance in Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, where it provides an other-worldly sense of suspension in time and space. Consisting of dense cluster chords of up to fifty or more pitches at once, these ‘sound masses’ create that sense of suspension, and what movement there is, is almost indiscernible within the density of textures, with the dynamic only rising above quiet on a couple of occasions. Conductor Geoffrey Paterson took the BPO through this with taut control, and by and large, they successfully achieved the desired effect. There were shimmering, strange oscillations and glassy strings, with the woodwind leading one of the crescendi up to four strikingly shrill piccolos. Towards the end two percussionists sweep and stroke the strings inside the piano, adding to the ethereal effect, as well as providing a little extra on-stage interest.
Lotte Betts-Dean, Geoffrey Paterson & the BPO © Nick Boston |
And so to Wagner. Despite the risk of being dismissed as a bit of a ‘greatest hits’ compilation, Henk de Vlieger’s arrangement nevertheless manages to include most of the major musical themes and motifs, with some vocal lines covered instrumentally, obviously, but also keeps much of the orchestral textures preserved, meaning that overall, this does actually work as a stand-alone orchestral piece. Here, programme notes taking us through the synopsis of the four operas, distilled by de Vlieger into fourteen sections, were supplemented by somewhat sketchy surtitles. The orchestra may well have been the largest iteration of BPO, certainly that I’ve ever seen, with a mammoth brass section including eight horns (four of whom doubled on Wagner tubas) – oh, and of course, the anvils. Paterson steered them through the adventure with remarkable energy and drive – this is definitely a feat of stamina, and to their credit, they kept the energy levels high right through. The frolicking Rhinemaidens were joyous, and the flowing Rhine itself from the strings had suitably swirling, watery atmosphere. On the whole, the brass delivered, particularly glorious when evoking the World’s Light appearing as Siegfried wakes Brünnhilde with a kiss, and Siegfried’s subsequent riding away on her steed. Inevitably with so much reliance on the brass, there were some lapses in precision later on, but overall, the excitement and commitment made up for the occasional lack of shine and finesse. The BPO woodwinds continue to show their proficiency, with some particularly evocative birds in the forest, and desperate cries at the death of Siegfried, whilst the string sound was rich and ensemble tight throughout. Hagen’s stabs that kill Siegfried could have had a little more strength and violence, but the final climactic fire of Valhalla, followed by the majestic overpowering by the Rhine brought things to a suitably exhilarating conclusion. Hats off to all concerned for an impressively dramatic performance – an orchestral adventure it certainly was!
Geoffrey Paterson & the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra © Nick Boston |
Natalia Ponomarchuk © Alina Harmash |
Alexander Melnikov (piano)
Natalia Ponomarchuk (conductor)
Fanny Hensel, née Mendelssohn (1805-1847): Overture in C major
Clara Schumann (1819-1896): Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 7
Robert Schumann (1810-1856): Introduction and Allegro for piano and orchestra, Op. 134
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847): Symphonhy No. 3 in A minor (Scottish)
Fanny Hensel:
'The LPO's violins responded to the horn’s quiet opening with lyricism, although their pick-up following the introduction was a little imprecise'.
Clara Schumann:
'Melnikov was most at home in the lyrically rhapsodic slow movement, joined by guest principal cellist, Waynne Kwon, beautifully complementing Melnikov’s lyricism with warmth and depth'.
Robert Schumann:
'Melnikov’s chromatic scales swirled and the orchestra surged appropriately in response. He was assured in the delicate intricate passagework, but occasionally, in the more bombastic moments, attention to detail was surprisingly matter of fact, with more than a few imprecisions creeping in'.
Felix Mendelssohn:
'Here the LPO winds came into their own, with a flowing clarinet opening and fizzing articulation from them all, complemented well by the joyful string filigree passages'.
'Once at full pelt, Ponomarchuk elicited rich and expressive drama. The finale had immediate attack, and the fugal sections here were tight. Clarinet and bassoon gave a delightfully expressive duet, and then the transformed ‘Holyrood’ delivered stately grandeur, with glorious horns to finish'.
Read my full review on Bachtrack here.